The Unknown Blade
by Dotaku06
Summary: The story of a key player that is often overshadowed by the exploits of The Black Swordsman Kirito, but who's own actions were just as vital in bringing an end to the world of Sword Art Online.


Prologue

(4 Months Before Main Story events)

Alright that's another field cleaned out, I'm getting kind of tired but I really should keep going, Aria really wants us to be able to get a house this month. It has been three months since we all became trapped in this death game and one month since the newly formed Assault Team took down the first floor boss. The second floor territories definitely made for more plentiful hunting and more exp to earn so that's cool. It just makes me wonder how anyone could possibly think we can clear all 100 floors of this game. I mean it took two months for the first floor to be cleared at this rate it will be many years before we are finished and who knows if most of us will last that long.

"Hows it going Kyoshi?" A voice from behind says, startling me. I turn to see Aria giggling. "Sorry didn't mean to scare you."

"It's cool, just don't sneak up on me like that when we are in the field." I say.

"Whatever you say, anyway I just heard a rumor about a nearby dungeon that supposedly not even that hard and has an insanely rare treasure inside it, that is worth enough to get us a house and then some." she says excitedly.

"That sounds a bit to good to be true, something smells fishy." I say. Wouldn't a dungeon with mild difficulty at best and an extremely valuable treasure inside be swarming with players almost constantly? I am sure if nothing else I would've heard of it by now.

"Oh come on I'm sure it's fine and besides I really want to get that house." she says with that pouty look she always gives when she wants something from me.

"Look I just don't trust it and besides at the rate we are going we will have a house in a couple weeks at most." I say.

"Alright fine...jeez why do you always have to be all responsible and junk." she says.

"Well for one I don't wanna die in here and besides...I need to look out for you." I say suppressing a blush. She just giggles in response.

"Well that's sweet but I'm a big girl, I can look out for myself." she says.

"I know you can I just really care about you and don't want to see you end up dead either, basically I'm gonna look out for you whether you give me permission or not." I say with a smile. She takes a few steps closer to me until she is right in front of me and wraps me in a hug.

"Thanks Kyoshi, I hate that you have to be trapped in here but at the same time I'm glad you are, you know what I mean?" she asks.

"I know exactly what you mean." I say hugging her back.

We decide to spend another hour or so hunting before heading back into town. As we are checking into a room I overhear a group of players talking about how some players who went to that rumored dungeon were ambushed and killed by some PKers. I am overcome with sympathy for those players and relief that I didn't take Aria there. One of the PKers was captured by some high level players but the others got away. One of the players that assisted in their capture was a guy named Kirito. I had heard his name quite a bit the last week or so and not everyone had nice things to say. Some say he's one of the best players in the game and one of our best chances of escape and others say he is just cheating beta tester, a beater I think they called it, that he isn't to be trusted. I haven't met the guy so I don't really know what to believe but so long as he is fighting to get everyone out and he doesn't turn into some scumbag PKer I don't have any issue with him.

The next day we decide to go into the floor dungeon to do some hunting. I was against the idea but Aria argued that at our current levels the monsters should't be to tough to handle and that even if we only kill half of the amount of field monsters we usually kill we could still earn more not to mention any treasures we might find. I reluctantly agreed and here we are. She is right the monsters down here are about on equal footing with us alone but together we can take them out fairly easily. However the reason I was opposed to it is because of the unusually high amount of PKs that have been happening recently. Supposedly a newly formed PK guild is responsible for most of it and the Assault Team hasn't been able to reign them in yet. In the field we have a better chance of getting away or getting help. Down here we are pretty on our own and much easier to trap.

"See I told you this was a great idea, we have already almost met our normal quota in like half the time." Aria says cheerily.

"Yeah yeah I still don't like this." I say. "If we run into any major trouble down here we aren't strong enough to deal with it."

"Okay then , tomorrow we will go back to our normal hunting spot but for now lets rack up as much as we can." she says.

"As you wish." I say with a sigh. When suddenly she collapses. "Aria!" I run to her side. I look her over to see she has been hit by 3 or 4 paralysis darts. Enough to paralyze anyone for quite awhile.

"You should've listened to your boyfriend girly." I hear a deep sinister voice say. I look around to see several players wearing black cloaks emerging from the shadows. Dammit they must be PKers. I draw my blade only to be hit by several paralysis darts myself. "You weaklings shouldn't have wandered into the dungeon like this."

"You bastards." I say straining as hard as I can to move. Dammit all to hell, if I was a higher level these darts wouldn't have this strong an effect but as I am there is nothing I can do. "You scum only mess with us lower level players because you know the assault team would slaughter you."

"This one has a mouth on him boss." one of them says pushing his blade to my throat. "Can I kill him first."

"Please don't..." Aria mutters. She is beyond terrified I can tell. I am too but I am trying not to show it.

"Hmmm don't you think it would be more fun to kill his girl in front of him first?" the one who I assume is the leader says.

"No please, anything but that!" I shout. "Let her go please, keep me but let her go!"

"Kyoshi I wouldn't just leave you like that." she says. One of them walks up to her and places his blade against her back.

"Sorry but if I let one of you go that means less money for us." he says with a sickening smirk.

"She doesn't have anything on her I swear I have all our money!" I shout frantically. It was true, we decided I would be treasurer so she transfers all money to me. He begins to think it over or at least pretend to.

"Hmmm...well just in case." he says as he rams his blade through her.

"NO!" I shout. "Please stop!" He continues to ram it through her until as I am forced to see the look of pure terror on her face and her HP slowly drop. As it reaches 0 she slowly begins to fade away and the tears are pouring down my face. The look of fear begins to fade slowly and tears slowly fall down her face as well.

"Kyoshi, I love you." is the last thing she says before shattering into shards of light. As the reality begins to wash over me my mind just shuts down.

"Looks like you were telling the truth, oh well that was fun." he says walking over to me and sticking the blade to my throat. "Now its your turn."

"Go ahead...I have nothing to live for anymore." I say the grief causing me to shut down. I don't care anymore, they took away the one reason I even had the will to carry on in this crazy game.

"As you wish." He says mocking what I said earlier. Just as he is about to slice my throat his boss shouts for them to pull out. The guys with the blade to my throat looked pissed but reluctantly pulls out with the rest of his team. Suddenly I am surrounded by high level players, they must be the ones who scared them off. One of them helps me up as the paralysis slowly begins to fade. He is a slender guy with black hair and a one handed sword on his back.

"Hey are you alright?" he asks. "My name is Kirito what happened here?"


End file.
